The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-13
THE THISTLE FOLKS TALK
SHE'S A CUTTER, AND THE FASTEST
CUTTER ON EARTH.

Owner Bell and Designer Watson arr
Here-Theyre Not Telling How Mucl
Canvas, or What Kind, She viii
spread, but There's no Secret Abou
Her Hull
From the NetU York Sun
Now we all know about it, The mauag
ing owner and the designer of the Thistle
have arrived and have talked about the fla
nous Scotch cutter freely The myster,
that surrounded her in the minds of some o.
the yachtsmen has been dispelled, ''air bub
bles" and all. She is simply cutter bull
according to the ideas of a well known de
signer, untrammelled by any rules of meas
urement whatever. She was simply de
signed to be the fastest possible boat of hei
length, and if she is not what she was de
signed to be, it is only because some Yankee
boat is faster.
Among the host of passengers that
thronged the decks of the City of Rome. as
she steamed up the lower bay early yester.
day morning, was group who looked about
with far more interest for sight of fam,
liar mast and sail than they did at the
green hills of Staten Island. The group in
Guided Mr.. and Mrs James Bell, Mr..
William Clark, Mr. G. l. Watson, Mr.. and
Mrs. Coulson, Mrs billiard, Mr.. William
York, Mr.. James Finlayson, and
Mr.. Thomas Ratsey Mr. Bell is
the managing owner of the Thistle,
and it was in his name that the challenge
for a race for the Americas cup was en-
tered Mr.. Watson, who, as Mr.. Bell said
lis far and away the ablest designer on tie
other side" was chosen as the designer Of
the new boat. Mr.. Clark was one of the
men who helped pay for the boat, and the
rest were friends of the chief members of
the party. They are all here to see the race
and the younger members of the party are
very confident of the Thistle's success Mr..
Bell and Mr.. Watson are hopeful, but they
are not certain of victory
Both Mr.. Bell and Mr.. Watson are frank,
and when a question is asked about their
boat which they do not wish to answer they
tell why they do not wish to answer But
the questions which they were unwilling to
answer were such as would be interesting to
the naval architect, but of no consequence
to the general public or even to the ordinary
yachtsman When asked about the model
of the Thistle Mr.. Watson said
'She is simply development of the ideas
of what yacht should be, which have in
corporated in other yachts | have built.
There is no special form, or device or con
trivance about her-not even any of that
ginger-beer idea. | do not intend to give
away the exact lines of her model; if there
was everywhere community of property
I would be satisfied to see a commonwealth
of brains. Over on our side we do not
share our ideas in such things with one
another
"How about docking her over herea Do
you intend to exclude spectators9'
"Well [laughingl, perhaps we would if
we could, but we don't think we will try it.
You will be welcome to come and look at
her. We have made no arrangements for
docking her yet. But as to her canvas or
any other matter which would give our OPP
ponent any advantage we do not wish to
say anything. We cannot alter our hull,
and he cannot alter Volunteers, SO we do
not care how much you look at ours in or
out of water"
Mr. Watson did not wish to compare the
Thistle with the Genesta. He said, how
ever, that in the races with the Irex the
Thistle was crowded for all she was worth ;
she had to give a time allowance, and could
not afford to lag or experiment very much
AS to carrying pilot during the races he
said:
''That is left entirely with Capt. Barr, but
he is of the opinion that pilot would only
be in the way. Capt. Barr wants to be in
full charge"
In speaking of the English efforts to carry
away the cup, he said that when once any
one over there set out to win the cup we
had to have six months notice after the
size of the coming boat had been determined
on, and thus had time enough to build a
new defender better than the old ones.
''If we win again you can no longer say
that you have a better one on the other
side, however The Thistle has shown
herself the best cutter in the world" was
suggested;
Eyes, she is the best ever built, and you
have got the best sloop ever built. 1t is is
going to be a great race-a very great
race
Mr.. Watson regretted that it had been re-
ported that he had come over here last
summer to examine American models. Il
was not here three months, as reported.
was here a fortnight. | might have been
in the New York Yacht Club house two
hours, but no longer, and was not above
half an hour in their model ROOM"
Mr.. Bell talked still more freely than Mr..
Watson. He was asked how he came to
build such boat as the Thistle. Hesaid:
I'VE always believed that we could win
the cup if we built as we ought to do. l
did not think that q boat built to win on
our side under our late rules could win over
here. If we were ever to take the cup, it
must be with a good wholesome cutter, not
trammelled by arbitrary rules of measure
ment. We taxed beam; you did not That
enabled you in your models to get stability
naturally or by breadth of beam. But your
older models were too broad and too shall
low for us; they were dangerous and some
times upset and drowned your yachtsmen.
Now, you cannot upset the Thistle, though
you may diSmast her. We have built in
the Thistle the best ship we could without
regard to rules of measurement. The draw
!ngs were all completed for her before Mr..
Watson sailed for America last year. He
came over to study your water and weather,
- when he came back he did not want to
alter line"
us there anything striking or novel in
her model as compared with other cutters ~
Not at all. You will be astonished, after
all that you have heard about secrecy and
mystery, when you see her. The mystery
was not of our making. We were overrun
with inquiries at first, and simply to save
lnterminable labor we declined to answer
any of them. She is simply a cutter of the
proportions that prevailed before the rules
taxing beam We're enforced she is a cutter
developed from those that were popular ten
years ago. The Volunteer by lowering her
weights is a safer and more powerful sloop
lllan her predecessors, and is far and away
the best model you have had yet. Ii, after
seeing the hull of Thistle in the dock,
any one is curious to know more about her
he can buy her. She win be for sale as soon
as the race is over, win or lose Then you
can tear her TO pieces If you like. But she
Is just as strong rs steel can make her. "
Are Won n Droctioal saiIormanm